Energy efficiency goes through big data. This is how the Pons brothers, Carles and Bernat, see it. They founded The Yellow Nest with a common goal: to be protagonists of change in energy use.
Located in the 20th-century neighborhood of Terrassa, the holding company, made up of up to six different companies, offers products and services for different moments of the entire value chain in the energy sector. Among its products are smart sensors and electrical measurement equipment for energy control and saving. They also offer solutions for the decarbonization of the territory and promote shared renewable energy communities for municipalities and neighbors. And they also have a digital platform for predicting and controlling photovoltaic solar energy generation equipment.
All of this is part of a project that aims to achieve a triple impact as a company: energy impact, by changing energy uses; digital transformation, through data monitoring, and social impact, by providing solutions for a more sustainable world.
The project, which is now seeking to consolidate its internationalization strategy, already supplies more than 80 countries worldwide. In 2022, they invoiced 56 million euros, which represents a 20% growth compared to the previous year. The energy transition has no brakes: they expect a 20% growth for next year and, by 2025, to double the current workforce of 410 employees.
The entrepreneurial spirit of the brothers originated in Circutor, a company co-founded by their father, Ramon Pons, in 1973. Their experience led them to create Cirprotec, which manufactures and distributes products for protection against lightning and overvoltages. The brothers made the leap to create Smilics Technologies, dedicated to the creation of smart sensors for energy control and saving. Smilics was the seed of The Yellow Nest, which currently groups six companies: the Catalan Km 0 Technology, NNergix, VMC and Smilics, and ZEZ Silko (Czech Republic) and Saci (Madrid).
The corporate headquarters is part of what they call Vapor 4.0, a proposal that aims to combine Terrassa's industrial and modernist past with a digital and sustainable future. "We must remember that we are a Terrassa company at the service of the city. We cannot be global leaders without being local leaders," argues Carles Pons.
The Yellow Nest has a self-sustaining building, which generates its own energy and reduces consumption thanks to efficient construction materials. This sustainability model is the real application of how the business group envisions the future of communities: home automation and big data at the service of people to obtain a better quality of life. In addition to solar panels and insulating architectural solutions, the building has geothermal systems and a Canadian well, which takes advantage of the constant temperature of the subsoil to exchange it with the air inside the building. All consumption data is constantly monitored thanks to sensors manufactured by Smilics, which allow efficient energy control.
"Terrassa has the potential to be a smart city. We must invest in the neighborhood, transform it and improve it. We don't want an empty city with empty neighborhoods and move to the outskirts," Pons defends. This does not exclude its global vision: the goal is to expand into new markets such as Germany or the United States.